leah@smith.CHI.IL.US (L.A.Z. Smith) (04/28/91)
This is the first call for votes regarding the proposed newsgroup,
misc.writing. Voting shall be held from April 28 through May 28.
HOW TO VOTE
^^^^^^^^^^^
MAIL your votes to one of the following addresses:
YES votes -- yes@smith.uucp
yes@smith.chi.il.us
yes%smith@ast.dsd.northrop.com
NO votes -- no@smith.uucp
no@smith.chi.il.us
no%smith@ast.dsd.northrop.com
To be counted, votes must REACH smith by 11:59 p.m. CDT, Tuesday,
May 28, 1991.
Please include in the body of your message your name and your correct
e-mail address. You may include other messages, but there's no
guarantee anyone will pay attention to them.
Do NOT post your votes. They will not be counted. Do NOT try to vote
by hitting the 'r' key, unless you change the 'To:' line.
We are not able to do individual acknowledgments, so please look for
your name in mass acknowledgments in news.announce.newgroups.
(Additional notes on mailing votes: We recommend that voters at
uucp sites use the .uucp address. Those at Internet sites should
route via .northrop.com. The .chi.il.us address does not seem
to be working outside this domain due to problems at gargoyle.
(If -- and ONLY if -- all else fails, you may send votes in care of
smithr@ast.dsd.northrop.com; include "misc.writing -- YES" or
"misc.writing -- NO" in the subject line. Votes sent this route will
take longer to process.)
Following is the charter for the proposed group, as discussed for the
past month in news.groups, and some supporting material.
Please vote.
MISC.WRITING CHARTER
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Misc.writing is a forum for discussion of writing in all its forms --
scholarly, technical, journalistic, artistic and mere day-to-day
communication. It is a venue for professional writers, would-be
professionals and all those who write to communicate.
Misc.writing is primarily about writing in English. As such, it
includes consideration of linguistics, grammar and style as they relate
to composition. It is not, however, limited to discussion of writing
for print -- topics may include a variety of other media and means of
communication.
In addition to discussion about the process of writing, misc.writing
also addresses writing as a trade, including (but not limited to)
reviews of books about writing; notices of workshops and writers' group
meetings; and information about marketing and publishing. Tools for
writing may be a topic, as well.
Questions about how to write, writing problems and how to improve one's
writing are welcome, but long excerpts of written works should not be
posted. However, the group may serve as a meeting place for those who
wish to exchange works to critique via e-mail.
Although the group is general in nature, misc.writing welcomes
discussions about specific forms of writing; contributors are encouraged
to identify their topic by including explicit tags such as "TECHNICAL:"
or "JOURNALISM:" in subject lines.
Such guidelines shall be enforced by peer pressure only.
Misc.writing is an unmoderated newsgroup.
========================================================================
WHY ANOTHER NEW GROUP?
Almost everyone writes -- if not books and articles, then memos to
colleagues or letters to mother. Writing is critical to most
professionals' jobs, whether it be the major part of their work or
simply the documentation of it.
At present, there is no group for general discussion of writing.
Related discussions therefore tend to be all over the net, with sci.lang
and rec.arts.books taking the brunt of them. The latter, as its
regulars should agree, is already large enough without this traffic.
Two groups on the alt.net, alt.prose and alt.prose.d exist, but they are
devoted to fiction and were, according to one of the founders, "created
primarily to allow writers to have their works of fiction (or
non-fiction, but the emphasis has always been on the former) read and
critiqued (in the .d group) by their fellow writers."
Posting of written works will be discouraged in misc.writing, where the
emphasis will be discussions of the process and business of writing.
While everyone who writes in any capacity is welcome, the primary focus
is on those who do it for a living -- on this network, that means mainly
journalists and technical writers.
Various groups in the comp hierarchy discuss aspects of technical
communication, but do not adequately provide a forum for the many
technical writers on the net.
The creation of misc.writing may be the beginning of a hierarchy. If
traffic justifies it, further groups could be proposed, along the lines of:
misc.writing
misc.writing.technical
misc.writing.journalism
misc.writing.educational
misc.writing.fiction
misc.writing.grammar
misc.writing.biff, etc.
However, we will begin with the initial group, misc.writing, and
see how it goes.
WHY MISC?
Because there is no other good fit. The rec.arts hierarchy is out
because of the professional leaning of the proposed group. It's
difficult to make a case for writing as a science, and "sci.writing"
would in any case have the effect of misleading people into thinking it
was for writing about science.
Almost everyone writes, for one reason or another, and a common ground
for discussion of the process and its peculiarities is greatly needed on
the net. Even the best of professionals can benefit from others' tips,
and those for whom writing is a necessary chore can find help from those
who do it constantly.
And if misc.writing turns out to be a means for improving the general
quality of writing on the net, all the better. Let's consider it.
WHAT NEXT?
Please vote. MAIL your votes as directed at the beginning of this
article. No posted votes will be counted. Do not mail votes to the
address below.
The discussion period for this group has ended. If you have comments
about misc.writing, you may as well save them until after the group has
been created -- if it is.
As you probably know, in order to be created, the group must net
100 more "yes" votes than "no" votes and the "yes" votes must be at least
two-thirds of the vote total.
--
L.A.Z. Smith leah@smith.uucp leah@smith.chi.il.us
Wheeling, Illinois leah%smith@ast.dsd.northrop.com
(If all else fails, send mail c/o smithr@ast.dsd.northrop.com)